SS Kerry Range

Coordinates: 58°42′N 31°25′W / 58.700°N 31.417°W

SS Kerry Range, scuttled in Baltimore, 1917.

The steamship Kerry Range was a 5,800-ton general cargo freighter, armed with 4.7-inch (119 mm) guns, that had been built by the Northumberland Shipbuilding Company^[1] and launched on 27 November 1915.^[2] While serving as a Royal Navy armed transport she was damaged in a fire, with loss of life, in Baltimore, Maryland, in October 1917.^[3] Investigating officials, after the fire, were convinced the vessel was the target of arson, and that the arsonists were German agents—an enemy of the United Kingdom and the United States, during World War I.^[4][5] Several suspects were arrested. However, it was later determined that the fire on Pier 9, that triggered the fire on board Kerry Range, was due to an electrical malfunction that triggered oakum, a flammable product once used to pack seams on ships.^[1] Three crew members lost their lives. Firefighting officials towed the blazing vessel away from the pier, to help prevent it igniting nearby Pier 8, and scuttled her. It took over a day to completely put out the fires on the hulk. Some press reports at the time wrote she was a complete write-off.^[6][7] However, the damaged vessel was salvaged and sold to the Steam Navigation Company of Canada in 1918.^[2]

The fireboats Deluge and Cataract played a key role in fighting the 1917 blaze.^[1]

In 1920, the ship's Canadian owners renamed her Blossom Heath, and in 1925 she was sold to the Dubrovnik-based Yugoslavian company Yugoslavenska Americaniska Plovidba ad. The Yugoslav owners renamed the ship Vojvoda Putnik. Three years later she was sold on to Yugoslavenski Lloyd dd, also based in Dubrovnik. Vojvoda Putnik stayed in Yugoslav service until torpedoed and sunk during World War II by the German U-boat U-591 in the Atlantic Ocean (58°42′N 31°25′W / 58.700°N 31.417°W) on 8 March 1943.^[2]

References

1. "SS Kerry Range". 2015-05-13. Retrieved 2016-09-02. An investigation concluded, however, that the blaze was caused by an electrical fire in one of the buildings on Pier 9, which ignited piles of oakum.
2. "Kerry Range (1137494)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 11 September 2016. (subscription required (help)).
3. "Arrest 2 suspects for Baltimore fire". New York Times. 1917-10-31. Retrieved 2016-09-02. Federal, railroad, and city officials are convinced that the fire at the Locust Point piers late last night was the work of German intrigue, and two suspects have already been taken into custody, while a score of other clues are being run down.
4. "Fire started by enemies sweeps Baltimore Harbor" (PDF). Utica Herald-Dispatch and Daily Gazette. 1917-10-31. p. 1. Retrieved 2016-09-02.
5. "Three arrests in Pier fire". Gettysburg Times. 1917-11-01. p. 2. Retrieved 2016-09-02.
6. "War Bulletins". The Omineca Miner. 1917-11-03. p. 4. Retrieved 2016-09-04. The British Steamer, Kerry Range, just docked, was also destroyed.
7. "GERMANS BLAMED FOR $5,000,000 PORT FIRE". Baltimore, Maryland: Alliance Review and Leader. 1917-10-31. Retrieved 2016-09-04. The full force of the department of justice was today thrown behind an investigation into the fire that swept the water front, destroying two piers and a British steamship, with an estimated loss of $5,000,000.